Ford supports a European-style gas tax - do you?

"The United States should consider imposing a European-style gasoline tax if it hopes to improve energy security and tackle global warming, the head of Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday.

'The way to get at is to make an economic decision just like in Europe where the fuel prices are seven or eight dollars a gallon," Ford chief executive officer Allan Mulally said. "Then our behavior would change dramatically.'

The current policy of forcing automakers to maintain an average fuel economy level across their product lines is not sufficient to cut gasoline consumption and is harming the industry, Mulally said."

17 Answers

Look, if oil ran out tomorrow, or we figured out that global warming will destroy us, Europe will be far more prepared than the United States. We here in the US would be completely crippled. Europeans already have mass transit systems in place and france is 70% nuclear energy. They are far more prepared than we are and that scares me.

Yes, the Europeans did it right. They drive smaller, more economical cars, which lessen congestion and dependence on imported oil. And free up resources for more valuable things. And they just happened to be well positioned to fight global warming too.

But it's a losing political argument in the US. Remember Carter? A whole 25 cents/gallon. May have been the reason he lost.

It's not going to happen here, no matter what happens November 2008. The Democrats even backed off on the fuel efficiency standards, which are the best hope here, regardless of what an auto executive thinks. Gasoline is "too expensive already" in the US. Not true, but also not arguable.

I love the way people make things up here, like the comment below about the European standard of living. The European standard of living is not quite up to the US on average, but it's close in the richer European countries. Tell the Germans or the French they don't have ice in their homes and mark yourself as a very ignorant American. Everyone bitches about taxes, but Europeans no more than usual. Their high taxes pay for things like universal health care and better old age pensions than in the US.

Per your own so called facts, driving cars causes less than 90% of the problem. So the answer is no. First of all most of the money won't be spent on anything that would help air quality and secondly people like Al Gore are the gross poluters. They are also the ones that want the averge guy to pay when the polute far more. I think that if they care about the issue so much then they should spend all their money on it not mine!

Also I heard that most of the polution that a car produces happens while it is being made not when it is being driven. Why not look at the big picuture instead on something like this. I guess there would be no money in that.

On the other hand, people don't care much what kind of power plant generates their electricity, as long as it gets delivered. Supporting nuclear power plants, and solving the issues associated with nuclear power plants, will do far more to reduce global warming than threatening people's cars.

The emissions from cars is only a fraction of the CO2 emissions from the US, and absent alternatives like (genuinely efficient) biofuels or nuclear-produced hydrogen or a really economical electric car, those emissions cannot be reduced more than a factor of two.

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Anonymous

1 decade ago

I don't think taxes and laws are the solution here; that's the environmental equivalent to the Patriot Act. Sacrificing our freedom of choice goes against everything that is America. Taxes also only hurt the poor. The mother of three working a minimum wage job will be forced to walk three miles from the grocery store with her children in tow while the elite fat cats don't even feel a pinch. And even if you do change taxes and laws, it does not change hearts and minds. Education is the key to making a difference, not legislation.

The EU-style of taxation is more comprehensive than a gas-tax... it's a cradle-to-grave system that is as unfair to the poor in its' own way (dual health care systems, for example, based on income) as ours is. It's not necessarily better or worse.

BUT, and it's a big but, look at the obvious impact. The european standard of living is NOT similar to ours in the US.

3 Things you won't find in a middle-class western european home: ice, a clothes dryer and high speed internet. These are luxuries when you're taxed at 55-60 percent of your income. You also won't find parents who can afford to give their kids auto insurance or a hand-me-down car. Very different, for all the similarities.

One other thing to consider is that western european nations are smaller... interstate commerce in small business is not widespread nor as necessary as in the US. Consider that we've got a bigger country than the entire EU, with the exception of the Russian Federation (which doesn't have many cars for their middle class). Their style of gas tax would put a stranglehold on travel, including business travel.

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Anonymous

1 decade ago

The head of Ford is currently a Foreigner I believe. Why should we care what he thinks about what the US should do ?

Currently I already pay around 64 cents per gallon in State and Federal taxes, that is already more than enough.

rich Republicans like the VAT. they do no longer spend all of their funds and could prefer a intake tax rather of better taxes on earnings and capital advantageous factors. the middle classification could be hosed the main with a VAT.